


Lost in Dallas

by WhisperedWords12



Series: The Curious Case of the NHL... [2]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Cute Kids, Dallas Stars, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 11:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11554134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhisperedWords12/pseuds/WhisperedWords12
Summary: Tyler is a little too inspired by the Home Alone movies.





	Lost in Dallas

"Tyler, are these jacks? Who even owns jacks these days?" Jamie asked.

Tyler sat on the couch looking sheepish. "I found them in a drawer."

It took everything in him not to roll his eyes. "And why was there a hot iron balancing on top of the door? Jesus Tyler, that's a fire hazard. Someone could have gotten hurt."

"It's what I saw on TV. To stop burglars."

Jamie blinked. "On TV? What have you been watching, Saw?"

Tyler frowned, "what's Saw?"

Jamie sighed, of course Tyler didn’t know what Saw was. When he had first been informed of all the de-aging going on in NHL, he had never thought it would reach them in Dallas. He was obviously wrong because now he was looking at a 6 year old Tyler, brown hair verging more on the blond side as it fall across his forehead. "Never mind. What were you watching?"

"Home Alone," Tyler said, smiling. It had been that smile that had confirmed to Jamie that this was Tyler. Jamie had first seen it when he’d walked it, Tyler’s face gleeful as Jamie had almost lost an ankle to a bowling ball.

Jamie groaned. "Of course. Of course."

"I'm sorry, I thought you were a bad guy." Tyler said. One of the dogs was curled up next to him, head on Tyler’s lap, the other sitting at his feet. Both seemed comfortable around Tyler, which didn’t surprise Jamie at all. Labs were nice dogs to begin with and Tyler’s dogs were no exception to that, taking to strangers quickly.

"And now do you trust me?"

Tyler didn't look so sure. "Mommy and Daddy said you were my babysitter for the week so...I guess it's okay."

It had taken Jamie the better part of an hour dodging homemade traps as he chased Tyler through the house to convince him to even call his parents. All he’d wanted was for Tyler to get them to confirm who he was, but he could barely get a word in around Tyler’s screaming. Now Jamie had three new bruises and one scraped knee but at least Tyler had relaxed.

Honestly, this was not how Jame had imagined the beginning of his summer going. During Tyler’s time on the phone, he’d also made a few calls of his own with management. He’d been reassured that on average, players were only spending 4-6 days de-aged, usually induced by high levels of stress. What had stressed Tyler out this badly in the offseason was beyond him.

"So we're going to walk Cameron and Donnie later?" Tyler asked, bringing Jamie back to the present.

Jamie blinked. "Walk who?"

Tyler rolled his eyes. "Cameron and Donnie," Tyler said, patting the dogs' heads.

"Tyler, their names are Marshall and Cash. They're both boys, why would you name that one Cameron?"

"Cameron can be a boy name too," Tyler snapped, then crouched to check their tags. He frowned, shooting a look over at Jamie. "Okay, maybe you're right."

"Uh huh, I know I am. And we're not going anywhere until you clean up the rest of your traps."

"Jamie," Tyler whined, sliding off the couch dramatically.

"No. No. Tyler, you need to do some listening right now."

Tyler's face started turning an ugly shade of red. Then, as suddenly as it started, he was calm. Actually, it was eerie how quickly his face had gone from murderous to angelic.

"Okay Jamie. No problem." He said, jogging of.

Jamie blinked, suddenly fearful for his life.

//

"Tyler, are you serious?"

Pilled at the bottom of the staircase was a mountain of things that Tyler had apparently used to make traps. Skateboards, knives, thumbtacks, ropes, brooms, and a horrifying number of regular household items that Jamie honestly didn't want to know how Tyler planned on weaponizing.

Tyler smiled up at Jamie. “Now can we take the dogs for a walk?”

Jamie was exhausted, but he had never been one to deny Tyler anything. “Sure Tyler. Go get them ready.”

Tyler beamed and took off, presumably to go find the dogs.

Jamie sighed, looking over the mess of objects. At least all the dangerous items were in one place so he could look after them. He snapped a quick picture of it for reference later, in case Tyler decided to steal some to set up one of his traps again.

While he was alone, Jamie walked around, poking around Tyler’s kitchen. Yesterday’s date on the calendar had been crossed off the same way Tyler usually did, meaning he’d probably changed over night. Nothing in the kitchen was overly ripe or rotten, only adding to this theory.

It was strange. Nothing outright suggested any reasons why Tyler might have been vulnerable to the de-aging. His house was clean—probably thanks to a cleaning service, the kids couldn’t take care of himself for shit—and his car was tucked away neatly in the garage.

Jamie grabbed an apple out of the fridge, then paused, something catching his eye as the doors slid shut. It was the calendar again, one of the days circled in red.

An appointment of some kind. Jamie squinted, getting a closer look. Not an appointment, the date of his surgery. The writing was too neat to be Tyler’s, maybe his manager or a trainer, but they had jotted down the time and date, along with follow up appointments and physio times for the next month.

Jamie swallowed. He’d almost forgotten about Tyler’s surgery. He’d been so quiet about it that Jamie had assumed everything was fine. He should have known better.

Footsteps thundered through the halls, getting closer. Jamie stepped away from the calendar, trying to look casual.

Tyler appeared from around the corner, both of the dogs in tow. He frowned when he saw Jamie’s apple. “Gross. There’s nothing to eat in this house, only boring food. This is a boring person’s house.” He whined, leaning down to clip on Cash’s leash.

Jamie smiled at that. If only he knew. “Maybe you want to stop for ice cream after? There’s a really good place just around the corner.”

Tyler’s smile erased all of the guilt Jamie had felt for ruining the summer training plan Tyler had bragged about. Besides, Tyler’s body wouldn’t hold on to them once he aged back, right?

Tyler nodded, “I just wanna get some toys to play with.”

Jamie pointed Tyler to a box by the front door. While Tyler shuffled through it, Jamie filled some water bottles for them. The heat here was incredibly, definitely worse in the summer.

“Jamie, you ready?” called Tyler.

“Yeah, one sec!” Jamie yelled back.

He was just about ready to go when the calendar caught his eye again. A date after his surgery, definitely written in Tyler’s handwriting this time.

Jamie smiled.

Tyler was completing his collection with a new puppy. Maybe this summer wasn’t going to be entirely miserable for Tyler after all.

At the front door, Tyler was waiting for him. He played around with the dogs on the lawn as Jamie locked up. He looking surprised when Jamie came over and ruffled his hair. “Ready to go kiddo?” Jamie asked.

Tyler blinked in confusion, then huffed, smoothing down his hair. “Only m’dad calls me kiddo,” he said.

Jamie smiled, taking off down the sidewalk in long strides. “No problem Tyler. Is butthead better?”

Tyler fumbled to get a hold of the dogs’ leashes. “You’re the butthead,” he laughed, jogging to catch up with Jamie. The dogs trotted behind him happily, not even pulling on their leashes. “Oh, Jamie, wait,” Tyler called from a couple feet back.

Jamie smiled, stopping.

Tyler stumbled up next to him, huffing slightly. “Um, remind me to finish cleaning up when we get home,” he said, grabbing hold of Jamie’s arm as he regained his breath.

Jamie frowned, walking in stride with him. “What did you forget?”

“Uh, nothing important.”

Jamie knew Tyler well enough to know that his expression said he was lying. “Tyler, what did you do?”

Tyler swallowed, trying to walk faster. Jamie caught his shoulder. “Tyler, just tell me.”

Tyler was looking away guiltily, fiddling with the leashes. Jamie could see a lot of the Tyler he knew and loved in that moment, his whole posture and expression eerily familiar.

Tyler swallowed and looked up at Jamie. "I may have forgotten to vacuum the itching powder out of the couch and beds."

Jamie paused, processing what Tyler had said. "Why would you put that in the beds? Why would a burglar stop to take a nap while robbing you?"

Tyler wasn’t looking at him again. "I, uh, only put it there after I found out you were babysitting me."

Jamie closed his eyes, sucking in a slow, deep breath. He reminded himself a couple times over that he was not allowed to murder his teammate, especially when he was a child. He opened his eyes, focusing very hard on keeping his voice even. “What made you change your mind?” he asked.

Tyler peeked up at him. “Dunno. Maybe because you’re kinda cool.”

Jamie’s lips twitched up, drawing a shy smile from Tyler. Jamie thought back to the notes for appointments on the fridge and memos on the calendar, all the stress Tyler must be under right now. “Thank you Tyler,” he said calmly. “I think you’re pretty cool too.”

Tyler’s smile was sweet and innocent. One of the dogs tugged, pulling Tyler’s attention back away from Jamie as he stumbled after it.

Jamie frowned as Tyler was dragged off by the dog. Something didn’t feel right. That smile had been almost too innocent. Jamie made a mental note to call Tyler’s mom to ask for some tips and tricks for watching over the kid. Jamie was sure he had not seen the last of Tyler’s pranks or traps.

Jamie sighed. 4-6 more days.

That new dog better be named after him for this.

[end.]

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly just feel like Tyler wouldn't take the de-aging process laying down, y'know?
> 
>  
> 
> Come chat with me on [tumblr!](https://whisperedwordsofhockey.tumblr.com)


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